If I upload the local directories Mysite and Another_Site as subdirectories on my hosting account (for testing) they both work just fine. If I copy those directories to the web root on my local instance of Apache, Mysite works fine, but Another_Site returns a 403 Forbidden error. It happens with every directory with underscores in the name (most of them :rolleyes:) but single word directory names are no problem.

If, instead of copying the directory to the web root, I simply copy the contents over, the site will display fine - but without images. The includes from the "includes" directory are loaded fine, but the images from the adjacent "images" directory are apparently ignored.

<VirtualHost *:80>
# The ServerName directive sets the request scheme, hostname and port that
# the server uses to identify itself. This is used when creating
# redirection URLs. In the context of virtual hosts, the ServerName
# specifies what hostname must appear in the request's Host: header to
# match this virtual host. For the default virtual host (this file) this
# value is not decisive as it is used as a last resort host regardless.
# However, you must set it for any further virtual host explicitly.
#ServerName www.example.com
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot /var/www
# Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
# error, crit, alert, emerg.
# It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
# modules, e.g.
#LogLevel info ssl:warn
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
# For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
# enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
# include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
# following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
# after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
#Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf
</VirtualHost>
# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet

# This is the main Apache server configuration file. It contains the
# configuration directives that give the server its instructions.
# See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/ for detailed information about
# the directives and /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian about Debian specific
# hints.
#
#
# Summary of how the Apache 2 configuration works in Debian:
# The Apache 2 web server configuration in Debian is quite different to
# upstream's suggested way to configure the web server. This is because Debian's
# default Apache2 installation attempts to make adding and removing modules,
# virtual hosts, and extra configuration directives as flexible as possible, in
# order to make automating the changes and administering the server as easy as
# possible.
# It is split into several files forming the configuration hierarchy outlined
# below, all located in the /etc/apache2/ directory:
#
# /etc/apache2/
# |-- apache2.conf
# | `-- ports.conf
# |-- mods-enabled
# | |-- *.load
# | `-- *.conf
# |-- conf-enabled
# | `-- *.conf
# `-- sites-enabled
# `-- *.conf
#
#
# * apache2.conf is the main configuration file (this file). It puts the pieces
# together by including all remaining configuration files when starting up the
# web server.
#
# * ports.conf is always included from the main configuration file. It is
# supposed to determine listening ports for incoming connections which can be
# customized anytime.
#
# * Configuration files in the mods-enabled/, conf-enabled/ and sites-enabled/
# directories contain particular configuration snippets which manage modules,
# global configuration fragments, or virtual host configurations,
# respectively.
#
# They are activated by symlinking available configuration files from their
# respective *-available/ counterparts. These should be managed by using our
# helpers a2enmod/a2dismod, a2ensite/a2dissite and a2enconf/a2disconf. See
# their respective man pages for detailed information.
#
# * The binary is called apache2. Due to the use of environment variables, in
# the default configuration, apache2 needs to be started/stopped with
# /etc/init.d/apache2 or apache2ctl. Calling /usr/bin/apache2 directly will not
# work with the default configuration.
# Global configuration
#
#
# ServerRoot: The top of the directory tree under which the server's
# configuration, error, and log files are kept.
#
# NOTE! If you intend to place this on an NFS (or otherwise network)
# mounted filesystem then please read the Mutex documentation (available
# at &lt;URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#mutex&gt;);
# you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
#
# Do NOT add a slash at the end of the directory path.
#
#ServerRoot "/etc/apache2"
#
# The accept serialization lock file MUST BE STORED ON A LOCAL DISK.
#
Mutex file:${APACHE_LOCK_DIR} default
#
# PidFile: The file in which the server should record its process
# identification number when it starts.
# This needs to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
#
PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE}
#
# Timeout: The number of seconds before receives and sends time out.
#
Timeout 300
#
# KeepAlive: Whether or not to allow persistent connections (more than
# one request per connection). Set to "Off" to deactivate.
#
KeepAlive On
#
# MaxKeepAliveRequests: The maximum number of requests to allow
# during a persistent connection. Set to 0 to allow an unlimited amount.
# We recommend you leave this number high, for maximum performance.
#
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
#
# KeepAliveTimeout: Number of seconds to wait for the next request from the
# same client on the same connection.
#
KeepAliveTimeout 5
# These need to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
User ${APACHE_RUN_USER}
Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}
#
# HostnameLookups: Log the names of clients or just their IP addresses
# e.g., www.apache.org (on) or 204.62.129.132 (off).
# The default is off because it'd be overall better for the net if people
# had to knowingly turn this feature on, since enabling it means that
# each client request will result in AT LEAST one lookup request to the
# nameserver.
#
HostnameLookups Off
# ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.
# If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a &lt;VirtualHost&gt;
# container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be
# logged here. If you *do* define an error logfile for a &lt;VirtualHost&gt;
# container, that host's errors will be logged there and not here.
#
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
#
# LogLevel: Control the number of messages logged to the error_log.
# Available values: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
# error, crit, alert, emerg.
# It is also possible to configure the log level for particular modules, e.g.
# "LogLevel info ssl:warn"
#
LogLevel warn
# Include module configuration:
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.load
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf
# Include list of ports to listen on
Include ports.conf
# Sets the default security model of the Apache2 HTTPD server. It does
# not allow access to the root filesystem outside of /usr/share and /var/www.
# The former is used by web applications packaged in Debian,
# the latter may be used for local directories served by the web server. If
# your system is serving content from a sub-directory in /srv you must allow
# access here, or in any related virtual host.
&lt;Directory /&gt;
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Require all denied
&lt;/Directory&gt;
&lt;Directory /usr/share&gt;
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
&lt;/Directory&gt;
&lt;Directory /var/www/&gt;
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
&lt;/Directory&gt;
#&lt;Directory /srv/&gt;
# Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
# AllowOverride None
# Require all granted
#&lt;/Directory&gt;
# AccessFileName: The name of the file to look for in each directory
# for additional configuration directives. See also the AllowOverride
# directive.
#
AccessFileName .htaccess
#
# The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being
# viewed by Web clients.
#
&lt;FilesMatch "^\\.ht"&gt;
Require all denied
&lt;/FilesMatch&gt;
#
# The following directives define some format nicknames for use with
# a CustomLog directive.
#
# These deviate from the Common Log Format definitions in that they use %O
# (the actual bytes sent including headers) instead of %b (the size of the
# requested file), because the latter makes it impossible to detect partial
# requests.
#
# Note that the use of %{X-Forwarded-For}i instead of %h is not recommended.
# Use mod_remoteip instead.
#
LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \\"%r\\" %&gt;s %O \\"%{Referer}i\\" \\"%{User-Agent}i\\"" vhost_combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \\"%r\\" %&gt;s %O \\"%{Referer}i\\" \\"%{User-Agent}i\\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \\"%r\\" %&gt;s %O" common
LogFormat "%{Referer}i -&gt; %U" referer
LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent
# Include of directories ignores editors' and dpkg's backup files,
# see README.Debian for details.
# Include generic snippets of statements
IncludeOptional conf-enabled/*.conf
# Include the virtual host configurations:
IncludeOptional sites-enabled/*.conf
# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
&lt;FilesMatch \\.php$&gt;
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
&lt;/FilesMatch&gt;

(I was trying to sort things out for myself from Kevin Yank's book, but my install seems to be quite different, and isn't in the directory he refers to. As I don't really know what I'm doing, I thought it might be safer to ask than to guess. :))

the problem arises with all those which have an underscore in the name, and none of those which don't.

I hope you don't mind but I'd like to triple check this. If you were to rename Another_Site to AnotherSite, does it suddenly work? And then if you renamed it back to Another_Site, does it stop working again?

I'm glad that cp is helping you through this ... but a few short comments before I run out the door:

TechnoBear said:

I'm confused - so nothing new there.

If I upload the local directories Mysite and Another_Site as subdirectories on my hosting account (for testing) they both work just fine. If I copy those directories to the web root on my local instance of Apache, Mysite works fine, but Another_Site returns a 403 Forbidden error. It happens with every directory with underscores in the name (most of them :rolleyes:) but single word directory names are no problem.

That sounds like you don't have a VirtualHost setup for Another_Site (nominally, conf/extras/httpd-vhosts.conf and your hosts{Extensionless} file) so you'd have to generate those changes OR simply use Another_Site as a subdirectory of Mysite. There is no problem with using _'s in a file or directory name.

If, instead of copying the directory to the web root, I simply copy the contents over, the site will display fine - but without images. The includes from the "includes" directory are loaded fine, but the images from the adjacent "images" directory are apparently ignored.

Because of the lack of VirtualHost for Another_Site, it should not be able to access Mysite's files (with relative links - PHP can access them via it's server properties but that's NOT what you want to do!). Of course, if you access as a subdirectory of Mysite, simply use ../ for your relative links.

Nothing stands out as unique, have you checked the permissions of the folder Another_Site versus MySite? Maybe the answer lies in there.

TechnoBear:

All the folders have the same permissions.

Correction - all the folders used to have, and should have had the same permissions, so I didn't actually check. I don't know how the permissions came to be reset; I suspect when copying the files from desktop to laptop and back again. Why it should only affect those with underscores is also a mystery. Anyway, they all have the same permissions now, and things are mostly working.

Jeff_Mott:

I hope you don't mind but I'd like to triple check this. If you were to rename Another_Site to AnotherSite, does it suddenly work? And then if you renamed it back to Another_Site, does it stop working again?

I tried this, which was when I spotted the problem with the permissions. After I sorted that out, I tried again. I made two copies of MySite, called My-Site and My_Site. All three have identical permissions. I also made two copies of Another_Site, called Another-Site and AnotherSite, again with the same permissions as the first three.

With the corrected permissions, MySite works, as does My-Site, but My_Site throws a 404 error. On the other hand, Another_Site now works, as does Another-Site, but AnotherSite throws a 404 error. Weird. At least it looks as if all my sites will work with their original names, provided I double-check the permission.

dklynn:

That sounds like you don't have a VirtualHost setup for Another_Site (nominally, conf/extras/httpd-vhosts.conf and your hosts{Extensionless} file) so you'd have to generate those changes OR simply use Another_Site as a subdirectory of Mysite. There is no problem with using _'s in a file or directory name.

I don't have VirtualHost set up for anything, as far as I'm aware. (Nor do I have conf/extras/httpd-vhosts.conf - not even those directories.) I'd got as far as installing PHP and simply copied a site to the web root to check it would work. It threw a 403 error, so I tried another and eventually discovered the underscore problem. I hadn't attempted to configure anything.

dklynn:

Because of the lack of VirtualHost for Another_Site, it should not be able to access Mysite's files (with relative links - PHP can access them via it's server properties but that's NOT what you want to do!). Of course, if you access as a subdirectory of Mysite, simply use ../ for your relative links.

I'm not sure I follow that. There is no connection between MySite and Another_Site. They're two completely separate sites (or, more accurately, stand for two sets of independent sites, one with single word names and the other with underscores) which I was using independently to test.

Correction - all the folders used to have, and should have had the same permissions, so I didn't actually check. I don't know how the permissions came to be reset; I suspect when copying the files from desktop to laptop and back again. Why it should only affect those with underscores is also a mystery. Anyway, they all have the same permissions now, and things are mostly working.

I tried this, which was when I spotted the problem with the permissions. After I sorted that out, I tried again. I made two copies of MySite, called My-Site and My_Site. All three have identical permissions. I also made two copies of Another_Site, called Another-Site and AnotherSite, again with the same permissions as the first three.

With the corrected permissions, MySite works, as does My-Site, but My_Site throws a 404 error. On the other hand, Another_Site now works, as does Another-Site, but AnotherSite throws a 404 error. Weird. At least it looks as if all my sites will work with their original names, provided I double-check the permission.

Awesome! Yet, intriguing. Can you provide a screenshot/copy/paste of running ls -la when you have all instances of each so we can see if anything looks out of place?

One thing I used to do (and sort of still do) is instead of copying my projects into the root web folder (usually /var/www), I create a symbolic link.

So I'd copy my sites into say /home/username/projects/, thus having MySite and Another_Site inside the projects/ folder, then I'd create a link to those directories and place it in /var/www using

I've also been known to just create a symbolic link for "projects" so anything I add to the folder automatically appears through apache.

This typically permits two things for me to be able to do. One, I don't need root access to alter my sites nor do I need to alter the permissions of /var/www. The second thing it permits me to do is to set any permissions/user ownership without going into root mode too.

It still lets me run the sites and I have better control over any editing without changing permission levels/ownership.